In the final episode of Mad Men, Don Draper is speeding through a stretch of dirt in the Utah desert...
He's been staying out there with a group of young mechanics who are trying to break the land speed record, and they seem to be very trusting of his advice. Before long, Don leaves for California.
Pete Campbell is now back together with Trudy and his daughter, and he's found a job in Wichita, and is making his exit. He has his last talk with Peggy Olson in her McCann Erickson office. He has faith she'll make creative director.
Roger is probably staying in the advertising business with McCann, but he is getting married to Megan Draper's mom. Before he does that, he visits Joan Harris and tells her he's giving his estate to their son.
Joan has found a new guy, but she's very conflicted because she is getting a lot of personal requests for new business. He wants her to retire to be with him, going so far as to threaten leaving her. Ken Cosgrove approached her directly to do an industrial video for Dow Chemical.
Joan shares her ambitions of starting a production company with Peggy and it has her very conflicted. Stan Rizzo has a heated talk with Peggy in her office to talk her out of it. He says she's a natural ad person, not a producer.
As the two continue to argue, they admit to each other that they're in love with each other. It's a tense and amusing scene, but Stan and Peggy ride off into the sunset together, as McCann copy worker.
In summary, just about everyone from Sterling Cooper, with the exception of Roger, Peggy and Stan Rizzo have left the business...
In his constant wandering, Don finds an old lady friend from his past and goes to a hippy-esque retreat along the Northern Californian coast. She calls him Dick-- his real name.
While on the road, Don gets a phone call from his daughter Sally. She tells him that his ex-wife Betty has lung cancer and has about six months to live. Don is shocked, and re-assures her that he wants his kids to live with him. He speaks to both Sally and Betty on the phone, and they seem to want things to continue normally-- meaning they assume that won't be around at all.
At the retreat, Don is tortured inside with all of the inner-seeking seminars they are holding. He gives Peggy a call at the office and tells her he's failed in just about every way. She says he shouldn't be alone... She thinks he's going to jump off a cliff. Don says he just wanted to hear her voice, hangs up, and collapses next to the payphone.
From here it all winds down... In the farewall montage, Peggy continues typing away in the office. Joan is working her new business out of her apartment, and she's hired a secretary. Roger and Megan's mom, Marie, are enjoying champagne in a cafe. Sally is doing the dishes as her sick mother sits at the dinner table. Don is doing a group meditation session, and he finally smiles.
It ends with the infamous old Coke, "It's the Real Thing" commercial. It's very hippy-esque. This seems to suggest that this was Don's brain-child... Did he go back to New York and create the campaign? Who knows.
...A toast to perhaps the greatest show of our time.